


The Inception Meta - Five Years of Inception Fandom

by chasingriver



Series: Inception Meta and Fanwork Round-Ups [1]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Community: inceptiversary, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Meta, Multi, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-26
Updated: 2015-07-26
Packaged: 2018-04-11 06:15:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 12,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4424582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chasingriver/pseuds/chasingriver
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I've pulled together all kinds of Inception meta and resources from the press, the official movie sources, and from fandom. There are lots of links to behind-the-scenes footage and interviews. There are also links to the Inception porn and fluff memes that happened on LiveJournal in the movie's wake. There's something for everyone here!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

**Author's Note:**

> All additions are marked with (ETA: Date).  
> Last update: 7/22/17
> 
> (ETA: 7/22/17) Some LiveJournal links might be dead due to people deleting their accounts over the new TOS/move to Russia. I'll do what I can to fix these at some point in the future, but some of the old stuff will unfortunately be lost.

I was asked to pull together “some meta” for the fifth Inceptiversary celebration. Perhaps I should have asked for a little specificity.

(Sorry. I swear that’s the only bad joke I make.)

It’s hard to me encompass five years of fandom in one document, especially when I’ve only been in the fandom for about eight months. I feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of everything that went on and the amazing community that this movie fostered.

Coming to it late is a bit like getting into a long television series about three seasons in — you can go back and watch the DVDs, but you’ll never quite get the in-jokes or the weird memes that spawned while the seasons were current. The best thing to do is enjoy the content you find, embrace the new community — being thankful one still exists — and move forward.

I’m a little sad to have missed out on things like the amazing comment threads on the kinkmeme, but I’m glad I found the fandom now. There are still great things going on here, just in new places and slightly different formats. My hope is that this document will let you find a little bit of everything.

**On document logistics:**

Roughly the first half of this document is devoted to the film, behind-the-scenes footage, extended canon, interviews, and analysis. Most of the content here is made up of links to traditional media sites.

The second half of the document is pulled mostly from fandom. That’s where I talk about where to start online, the costumes, the fan meta posts, character analysis, shipping, and some other things.

So, if you’re reading through it thinking, “Where’s the meta?” — stick with it. Or skip ahead a few chapters. My definition of meta was pretty broad.

Since this document contains links, some of them will no doubt die with time. Warner Brothers, for example, took down the Inception website and The Cobol Job comic. (I’ve tried to provide new links to some items.)

Some links on other people’s pages are already dead (in particular, the ones to already-purged LiveJournal accounts). If you find that any of my links have died, please leave me a comment and I’ll update or remove them.

I’ve rated this document as Explicit because so many of the links go directly to explicit material. The document itself is pretty tame.

One last note on style. This is not a pretty document. The lack of extensive formatting on AO3 and the profusion of links is a bad combination, I know. In order to make sure I wasn’t corrupting my links, I chose to leave most of them as they were instead of hiding them under inline text; it was too easy to corrupt the links when I edited them. Ugly links were better than broken links. It was a tradeoff.

My many thanks to bookshop and lezzerlee for giving me some starting points. I would have been stuck without you. And I won’t lie — I found a few of the memes on my own, but bookshop gave me most of them. Thank you.

And now — the linky goodness.


	2. The Movie and the Extended Canon

**The Film**

Inception came out in 2010. Wikipedia has a thorough article on the various stats, locations, cast, etc. I’m not going to go into the basic details about the film, because if you’re reading this meta, chances are you already know them. In case you don’t, check out the wikipedia article below.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception>

There’s also a wiki site devoted entirely to Inception. There's a lot of interesting trivia and explanations of nuanced plot points in there. 

<http://inception.wikia.com/wiki/Inception_Wiki>

 

* * *

 

**The Extended Canon**

Inception has a large “extended canon.” There are two comics, both prequels to the movie. They had an extended viral marketing campaign when they released the film. It included a game, “research footage,” posters, a website, a manual for the PASIV, and a “tactical dream-share manual.”

First though, there are some **canonical documents**.

 **[Inception Production Notes and Cast Bios](http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-Production_Notes.pdf)** (pdf) (167K)

 **[Inception Screenplay](http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-Screenplay.pdf)** (pdf) (375 K)

**The Cobol Job (prequel to Inception)**

  * [Comic (pdf)](http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-TheCobolJob-comic.pdf) (47 MB)
  * [Animated comic video (480p mp4)](http://app.box.com/s/v85kxuhio92najsc7hjazs0zd891rsye) (35.4 MB on [box.com](http://box.com) — let me know if you have any issues accessing this)



**The Big Under (sequel to The Cobol Job)**

  * [Script (pdf)](http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-TheBigUnder-script.pdf) (102K)
  * [Script summary and LJ post](http://onthecount.livejournal.com/23119.html)
  * [Comic (video)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfoQYL0_Qo)  (YouTube link)



**Project Somnacin: Confidential Files** (on BD-Live, no link, let me know if you have one)

 **[Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8iRQHBxywA)** (YouTube link)

 

* * *

_A note on the DVD. On Amazon (US and UK), the Inception Blu-Ray is under $10/£7. If you have a Blu-Ray player, It’s the easiest way to see all the special features, except for Project Somnacin which requires a certain type of player._

* * *

**The production notes**

These notes were originally available on the Warner Brothers site but were removed once the Inception site came down. They contain a lot of great backstory about the characters and biographies of the cast members.

<http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-Production_Notes.pdf>

 

**The shooting script**

You can get this as a PDF online.

<http://www.screenplaydb.com/film/scripts/inception/>

You can also purchase it in book form from [Amazon](http://www.amazon.com/Inception-Shooting-Script-Christopher-Nolan/dp/1608870154/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1437014832&sr=1-1&keywords=inception+the+shooting+script&pebp=1437014911505&perid=006TZWT48459CY217QN0) or other retailers, where it’s listed as “Inception: The Shooting Script”, by Christopher Nolan.

The book comes with an additional interview (<http://incontention.com/inception_interview.pdf> (1 GB)), schematics for the PASIV (<http://www.pasivdevice.org>), storyboards scattered throughout the screenplay, and a section with concept art. (You can find most, if not all, of the concept art here: <http://blog.naver.com/yuthmain/90147523512>.)

Here’s an article from io9 agreeing with me that the screenplay book is pretty cool and giving you some more details. They also show and discuss the big sketch in the book that diagrams the different dream levels.

<http://io9.com/5625031/want-to-understand-inception-read-the-screenplay>

I fully support buying the book. It’s pretty neat, not that expensive (currently about 12 USD), and is a great way to support Christopher Nolan, who I presume gets royalties as the author. That said, most of the additional content is also available in this meta. I think the only thing that isn’t are the various storyboards, which are pretty cool. I don’t see them on the [nolanfans.com](http://nolanfans.com) site, either. There’s more info on the nolanfans site in the fandom chapter.

 

**The Cobol Job**

(This summary is from <http://inception.wikia.com/wiki/Inception:_The_Cobol_Job>)

_Inception: The Cobol Job, written by Jordan Goldberg, is a prologue to Inception: The Big Under, and thus to Inception as well. It was originally published online on the Inception official website and at Yahoo! Movies but has since been taken down. It details the heist on Mr. Kaneda's mind by Nash, Cobb, Arthur, and several Cobol Engineering thugs. The dream world takes the shape of a downtown area complete with skyscrapers, a bank, and an office building._

_The Cobol Job_ was both a digital comic and an animated comic feature. Links to both are at the beginning of this chapter. To my knowledge, the easiest way to watch the animated comic is to buy the Blu-Ray DVD. It’s one of the special features. If that link is dead, you can also try streaming it from [here](http://filehoot.com/ic6y6hq5zq6c.html) or [here](http://vodlocker.com/yi5k53cfuv8v), or try a [torrent](http://kat.cr/inception-the-cobol-job-2010-480p-mp4-t6769690.html).

 

**The Big Under**

On August 5, 2010, there was a call for art for the comic book for sequel to _The Cobol Job_. It would be known as _The Big Under_.

The summary from the Inception Wikia (<http://inception.wikia.com/wiki/Inception:_The_Big_Under>) says, “[the comic] will serve as a sequel to the first Inception comic, _The Cobol Job_ , and a prequel to the film. It is written by Jordan Goldberg, who wrote the previous comic. It focuses on Saito and takes place right before the movie.”

The script for it is here: <http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-TheBigUnder.pdf>

There’s also a LiveJournal post that has a [summary of the script](http://onthecount.livejournal.com/23119.html).

It seems the only place it was released was as an easter egg on the Inception Special Features Blu-Ray DVD. At the main menu screen, enter 528491 on your remote, and your should see an image of the top totem. Click on the top, and it plays the comic. I don’t know if it was ever released as a static comic (either traditional or digital). If you have a copy or ever saw it, please let me know!

Here it is: _[The Big Under](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfoQYL0_Qo)_.

They had an official contest to determine cover art for the comic. There was a [deviantart account for art submissions](http://moonbeam13.deviantart.com/journal/Inception-Comic-Cover-Art-Contest-214240548) for the cover art. The winners were [announced on Nolanfans](http://www.nolanfans.com/2010/12/22/inception-comic-cover-art-contest/#more-5892). There were also many pages submitted for the actual comic on the [Inception deviantart account](http://inception.deviantart.com/gallery/26138794/Devious-Folder). There’s some great artwork in there. You should check it out.

 

**Project Somnacin**

This was BD-Live (internet) content on the Blu-Ray disc. Unfortunately, I don’t have any information on it.

 

**Dreams: Cinema of the Subconscious**

From the DVD blurb: “Can the dream world be a fully function parallel reality? Joseph Gordon-Levitt and leading scientists take you to the cutting edge of dream research.”

This is a really interesting documentary. Joe’s intro is a bit cringeworthy, but stick with it. Sorry about the Russian subtitles — I couldn’t find any other source online. It’s on the Blu-Ray.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8iRQHBxywA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8iRQHBxywA)

 

**Viral Marketing for the Film**

They sent a “Tactical Employment Procedures Manual” to Wired magazine in advance of the film. It was mostly redacted, but the last chapter included a link to the manual to the PASIV device.

Here’s the Wired article: <http://www.wired.com/2010/06/dream-share-manual/all/1>

Here are the images from the manual on the Nolanfans site: <http://www.nolanfans.com/2010/06/01/dream-share-tactical-employment-procedures-manual/#more-2744>

And the famous PASIV instruction manual: <http://www.pasivdevice.org/>

Here are some more articles that talk about the marketing campaign:

<http://www.nolanfans.com/2010/06/06/inception-viral-marketing-hits-the-streets/>

<http://screenrant.com/inception-viral-campaign-posters-mikee-63331/>

<http://www.filmdetail.com/2010/08/18/inception-viral-marketing/>

They made a Facebook page (<https://www.facebook.com/inception>) and created an online game (<http://www.mind-crime.com> \- it’s a Flash site which I don’t recommend running due to Flash security concerns).

This marketing was also the genesis of the leaked “Chris Nolan research footage.” It contained two dream researchers, and two slightly more questionable sources …

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEItJLwvsF0>

<http://www.examiner.com/article/new-dream-research-video-becomes-part-of-inception-s-viral-campaign>

 

**Meta for the extended canon**

Weatherfront has some fantastic meta insights from the shooting script and The Big Under here:

<http://weatherfront.livejournal.com/1885.html>

 

**Books about Inception**

Two books were written about Inception and philosophy.

[Inception and Philosophy: Because It's Never Just a Dream](http://www.amazon.com/Inception-Philosophy-Because-Never-Dream/dp/1118072634), by David Kyle Johnson

[Inception and Philosophy: Ideas to Die For (Popular Culture and Philosophy)](http://www.amazon.com/Inception-Philosophy-Ideas-Popular-Culture/dp/0812697332) by Thorsten Botz-Bornstein


	3. The Score

**The Inception Score**

Hans Zimmer’s amazing score, from the the beginning BRMMMM to the ending strains of ‘Time’, is as much a part of the movie as Eames’ ‘darling.’

These quotes are taken from the Production Notes:

**On Sound and Music:**

“We talked about wanting big waves of sound, which would require more brass than strings, so I put together a huge brass section. We recorded them separately because there was no way that strings would have survived the onslaught.” — Hans Zimmer

“There are scenes in the film where the score and the sound design are literally indistinguishable. What you wind up with it something that connects the different layers of reality the movie presents between waking and dreaming.” — Christopher Nolan

**On ‘Non, je ne regrette nien’ by Edith Piaf:**

“One of the decisions I had to make early on was regarding our use of the Edith Piaf song. Due to the nature of its place in the story, should it be handled by the sound department or Hans? I decided to give it to Hans because the song was going to have to weave into the score at some point, and he is a genius at blending music and sound together – figuring out the balance between instruments and synthesizers and voices and sound effects. It’s very exciting.” — Christopher Nolan

“I love that Chris wrote Edith Piaf into the script because there is a timeless romantic quality to her voice.” — Hans Zimmer

 

‘Inception: The (not really) Complete Score’ on YouTube. This used to be a link to a playlist of the entire score, but much of it has now been blocked due to copyright issues. If you do a little digging in the links, you can find the original source which may or may not still be around. The currently blocked tracks are 1, 8, 15, 21, 27, 29, 31, 32, 33, 35, and 36.

<https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL0SpkMXzIPMeC60GvCQlyzjT9GwG3gmkr>

‘Non, je ne regrette nien’ by Edith Piaf

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFtGfyruroU>

‘Hans Zimmer, the Making of Inception Soundtrack’ (the same video as in the Behind the Scenes chapter of this meta)

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1FIv7rFbv4>

Hans Zimmer plays ‘Time’ live at the Inception premiere in Hollywood

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q4XxaWXsO78>

And, this isn’t meta so much as downright surreal, but I felt the need to include it. Someone has mixed ‘Time’ to be ten hours long. In case you need ten hours of it.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqRZ2_w56U0>

Inception timing cues and technical analysis

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQstyY-06Lk>

The lyrics to ‘Non, je ne regrette nien’ and some commentary

<http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/post/120548037598/waitingforthekick-that-broke-my-heart-tbh>


	4. Behind the Scenes

**Behind the Scenes features and specials**

There were a number of behind-the-scenes special features on the Blu-Ray release. Others were released as B-Rolls or television specials. Most of these can be found on YouTube. 

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - Of Tilting Restaurants**

“I’ve done many gimbal sets where you see everything shaking and it’s mayhem. This was quite different because as the whole rig was tilting, all you’re seeing are the angle of the drinks and the hanging lamps moving in unison. It really achieved the surreal effect Chris (Nolan) was looking for. It was quite a large structure to tilt fully. In simple terms, it was basically a seesaw controlled by two pistons that could be raised and lowered to get the platform to slant. I believe the entire set tilted to approximately 20 degrees, which doesn’t sound like much…until you try to stand on it.” — Chris Corbould on the tilting bar set, from the Production Notes

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9YxfqOTpTA>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - The Rotating Corridor**

The zero-gravity hallway fight scenes were achieved by using "...massive, rotating sets that twisted and turned and forced Gordon-Levitt to maneuver with utmost caution. Five-hundred crew-members were involved in the scene, which took a full three weeks to complete." The sets were built in a London airplane hangar, including a horizontal hallway that rotated 360 degrees, a vertical one and a set with steel trolleys to which the actors were attached by wires (later erased using visual effects). — summary from YouTube page

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PhiSSnaUKk>

**(ETA: 9/8/15)** The CineFix YouTube channel provided an amazing behind the scenes video on the Hallway Dream Fight. They have a series named "The Art of the Scene," and this was highlighted in a Slate.com article here: 

<http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2015/08/13/how_the_inception_hallway_fight_scene_was_made_cinefix_provides_a_behind.html>

The bare YouTube link is here: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=junBvKGZCDc>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - When It Rains, It Pours**

http://[www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikck0tSbloY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ikck0tSbloY)

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - French Market Dreaming**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biuD-iv5X7o>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - Escher Staircase**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HzdK_JC2BE4>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - The Japanese Castle**

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh-6VaghQs0>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - Zero Gravity**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU497FNZ4hw>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - The Train**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbyIbHqsbiY>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - The Science of Dreams**

http://[www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCGzKgkEFiw](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCGzKgkEFiw)

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - Dream Fortress**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgF0e0veX0A>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - At the End**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4TlXiFT_Bc>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - Let There Be Zimmer!**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdZHwZKdDtk>

 

**Inception Behind the Scenes - The Dream City**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j9BZzllfi-M>

 

* * *

 

The DVD also featured **“The Making Of Inception - Behind the Scenes.”** This is the content featured in the “Extraction Mode” on the DVD features.

  * Part 1 - http://[www.youtube.com/watch?v=ictEMQ8sBvY](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ictEMQ8sBvY)
  * Part 2 - http://[www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADcmjhDAyu0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADcmjhDAyu0)
  * Part 3 - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZBeyUypNYU>



 

**Paris Cafe Street Filming**

This is really interesting. It appears to be B-roll (privately shot or supplemental) footage from the scenes where they shot the cafe explosions. You can see them shooting the scene below and the exploding fruit and paper coming from both sides.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGdF9TQLM7s>

 

That clip was from the NolanFans YouTube channel, so I dug around on there and found a lot of great stuff. There are some more B-Roll footage things: 

**Inception Filming - Los Angeles, Car Chase**

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm37-A4ePOE>

 

**Inception B-Roll Set Footage (official)**

This is six minutes long with a _lot_ of great stuff: the Castle set (with Mal looking lovely!), Cobb and Ariadne near the Eiffel Tower, the tilting hotel bar structure, the rotating hallway, Tom Hardy lounging around on a sofa chatting to Chris Nolan, JGL in a waistcoat holding a bottle of water, some amazing snowmobile camera rigs — honestly, just give up six minutes of your life and enjoy it.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C1rtS5l7vTg>

 

This is the **“HBO First Look — The Making of Inception”**

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhsA9QUHDQc>

 

 **Inception shot analysis** — this cinematography video takes the last scenes of the film and labels them by camera shot type. It’s probably only interesting if you’re into filmmaking or screenwriting.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8D5X9FgNIP0>

 

 **Inception concept art** — finally, there is some great concept art for both the settings and the cast at this site. It’s in Korean, but you don’t need to read it to get the benefit of the lovely artwork! There is a subset of this in the [Inception Shooting Script paperback](http://www.amazon.com/Inception-Shooting-Script-Christopher-Nolan/dp/1608870154), but there’s even more good stuff here.

<http://blog.naver.com/yuthmain/90147523512>


	5. Production Design

**Production design for Inception**

Guy Hendrix-Dyas was the production designer for Inception. He’s responsible for the lush visuals and sets. He was nominated for an Academy Award and won a BAFTA (the British equivalent) for Best Production Design.

Here’s his website portfolio (or “some gorgeous stills from Inception,” since he’s the one responsible for how they look):

<http://guyhendrixdyas.weebly.com/inception.html>

This is an interview with him on About Entertainment about the production design for Inception and some of his other movies.

<http://performingarts.about.com/od/Costumes/ss/Inception-Production-Designer-Talks-About-Designing-The-Films-Dreamscapes.htm#showall>

Then go to this article and use the large arrows to navigate to other images/paragraphs.

<http://performingarts.about.com/od/Costumes/ig/The-Designs-of-Guy-Hendrix-Dyas/Saito-s-Castle-Concept-Sketch.htm>

If you’re wondering what Production Design is, or how it differs from Set Design or Art Direction, check out this article:

<http://performingarts.about.com/od/Costumes/f/What-Is-Art-Direction.htm>

 

* * *

 

**The Francis Bacon painting**

One of the many small but noted details of the film was the portrait by Francis Bacon in Saito’s castle. Christopher Nolan is a big fan of Bacon’s work and has cited him as inspiration for his work.

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1R4CFUxj9c&ab_channel=Tate](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1R4CFUxj9c&ab_channel=Tate)

This post pointed out the Bacon painting:

<http://eames-arthur.livejournal.com/1265424.html>

(Note also the items in that article about Valfierno, which I’ll pick up below.)

Much was made of Mal’s comment, “Looks like Arthur’s taste” by Arthur/Eames shippers.

<http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/post/116361120153/arthurandeames-peruses>

However, at least one article interpreted this as a Mal/Dom ship manifesto.

<https://reelclub.wordpress.com/2011/02/06/a-picture%E2%80%99s-worth-a-thousand-words-francis-bacon-and-inception/>

 

* * *

 

**Hotel Valfierno**

<http://eames-arthur.livejournal.com/1265424.html>

Although the image links are broken in the original article on LJ, it points out that the name of the dream hotel is Hotel Valfierno. We know this from the insignia on the bar napkins. (Screencapped here.)

<http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-hotelbar.png>

Eduardo de Valfierno was a prominent forger and thief.

<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eduardo_de_Valfierno>

I haven’t seen this detail mentioned anywhere else. I love the idea of naming the hotel/bar after a forger. Arthur is the dreamer on this level, so take from that what you will.


	6. The Interviews

**Interviews**

There are a number of cast interviews available on YouTube.

* * *

**"Inception 4Movie Premiere Special"** \- 3 parts (apparently) - I could only find parts 1 and 2

**ETA 10/27/16:** Part 1 includes footage from the London premiere. Many of the interviews clips are found in other videos, or are also called out elsewhere with timestamps for certain actors.

  * <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTiZxCdYMB0> 
  * <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o554dlLOHeY> 



 

**Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ken Watanabe, Cillian Murphy, Ellen Page, Dileep Rao**  

AlloCine Interview with Inception Cast

A.k.a. “The French interview where Tom completely owns Joe on the subject of French film directors.” For that bit, see the end of Part 4.

  * Part 1/4 - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPu038J5Vbg>
  * Part 2/4 - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf1IrBU8JSw>
  * Part 3/4- <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLor7N8Fw9w>
  * Part 4/4- <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZcx67n4Cg4>



 

**Tom Hardy and Cillian Murphy**

Access Hollywood - (They talk about doing the scene with the van underwater, not being able to ski, and working with Chris.) 

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsGoOatgPy8> 

**ETA 10/27/16:**  from an unknown junket interview (possibly an outtake?) where Tom jokes about actors "feeling each other up a little bit" (really funny) 

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KD0QAnCnw8>

This series contains parts of lots of different interviews, and they don’t seem to line up or flow between the different parts. (The last part is the one where Tom talks about his dream about Helen Mirren.)

  * Part 1/4 - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wtm7sCDLqOI>
  * Part 2/4 - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfCvEjm6tHQ>
  * Part 3/4 - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYDp8FPR-y8>
  * Part 4/4 - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUy8rGVK2_o>



Tom and Cillian discuss dressing in drag with an interviewer who seems confused about whether or not it was actually Tom who played the part of lady!Eames.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-Qn4roZWTE>

**ETA 10/27/16:** Tom and Cillian talk about their characters. Tom (once again) mentions being tied to the back of a Ski-Doo. 

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyPV3q5Xl9M>

**ETA 10/27/16:** Tom and Cillian at the Paris Inception premiere - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH9BIs9jvzA>

 

**Tom Hardy**

**ETA 10/27/16:**  Tom at the LA Inception premiere (also footage of them getting the group shot photo at the premiere) - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD726QRoSck> 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mH9BIs9jvzA

 

**Christopher Nolan**  

UK Telegraph - <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/filmmakersonfilm/7894376/Christopher-Nolan-interview-for-Inception.html>

Tribute.ca - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7ff4c-ZqpY>

WIRED Magazine - Q&A on Dreams, Architecture, and Ambiguity - <http://www.wired.com/2010/11/pl_inception_nolan/>

**ETA 10/27/16:** Inception Special Part 1 - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTiZxCdYMB0>, at 8:40

 

**Dileep Rao**

London premiere interview - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fllqwD0lgCM>

This one is from the NolanFans YouTube channel. I’m not sure of the source. - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPFE8PM1Fzs>

 

**Ellen Page and Joseph Gordon-Levitt**  

Set Interview - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ft9vFjwCvJE>

STAR Movies VIP Access - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4IQaCLp588>

**ETA 10/27/16:** From the "4Movie Premiere Special" (part 2) above - <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o554dlLOHeY> at 2:40

 

**Leonardo DiCaprio**

Tribute.ca - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YyC_DKw6pY>

 

**Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, Joseph Gordon-Levitt**

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weiCSn0YDYw>

 

**Ken Watanabe**

**ETA 10/27/16:** from part one of the "4Movie Premiere Inception Special". If you go to 7:18, there is a very brief interview clip with Ken Watanabe.

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTiZxCdYMB0>

 

 

 


	7. Inception Analysis

One of the big questions as everyone left the movie theater was “Was it all a dream?”

The press had a blast with this. There were two main theories — one “yes” and one “no” — along with “It doesn’t matter as long as Cobb is happy.”

The press seemed happy to provide everyone with their own theories, articles, and graphics on the subject.

 

These articles are from Taylor Holmes. He is in the “It was all a dream” camp, and he has a very detailed set of articles on why he believes that.

7 Layers of Inception

This sets out his version of each dream layer and also lays the basis for the following two articles.

<http://taylorholmes.com/2010/07/20/7-layers-of-inception/>

 

Inception Totems Explanation

This article puts forth some theories on each of the different totems, and goes into depth on the top, and what it means to Cobb and why it might not be a valid totem for him.

<http://taylorholmes.com/2010/08/02/inception-totems-explanation/>

 

10 Troubling Inception Questions

This answers some great questions: What are the dreaming rules? What exactly is Limbo? Who dreams each dream in the seven layers? How do Ariadne & Cobb get to Limbo? What happens when the main dreamer wakes up? Why is Saito so much older than Cobb in the final dream level? How do Mal and Cobb end up in Limbo the first time? If the whole thing is a dream, why did the top stop earlier?

<http://taylorholmes.com/2010/08/11/10-inception-questions/>

 

Here is some meta from Roger Ebert on whether or not a film can be empirically “great.” Since it centers on the apparent media firestorm on whether or not Inception was a good or a bad movie, I thought I’d include it here. For what it’s worth, he liked it.

<http://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/whole-lotta-cantin-going-on>

 

Wired magazine put together a neat infographic. It takes thirteen different key points from the movie and analyzes them according them to three different movie theories (“the ending is not a dream,” “the entire movie is a dream,” and “just the ending is a dream”) and three different movie concepts (“the movie is a heroic epic,” “or maybe it’s a meditation on architecture”, and “actually, it’s about moviemaking.”) The black boxes (I believe) are quotes from Chris Nolan, and amusing refute the bit about it being an allegory for moviemaking. He’s talked about that quite a bit, but it was a popular theory in the press.

<http://www.wired.com/wp-content/uploads/blogs/magazine/wp-content/images/18-12/pl_inceptionexplained_infographic_f.jpg>

 

In “Cynical Celluloid presents Inception, An analysis of a Dream World,” Youtube user lampyman101 makes a very detailed analysis and case for the entire movie being a dream.

  * Part 1 - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hc_3fhD8eA4>
  * Part 2 - <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7s678ICkZM>



 

The ohnotheydidnt livejournal weighed in with two completely contradictory entries on the ending. (They appear to be by different people.) One posited that Cobb gets back to reality.

<http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/49010380.html>

The other speculated that the whole film was a metaphor for the film industry and everything was a dream.

<http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/49059535.html>

 

“50 Things About Inception” is pretty much what it says on the tin.

<http://flicksided.com/2010/07/17/50-things-about-inception/>

 

Cinemablend attempts to answer a lot of interesting “Wait, how?” Inception questions and does a pretty good job of it. This is a really good article.

Inception Explained: Unraveling the Dream Within the Dream

<http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Inception-Explained-Unraveling-The-Dream-Within-The-Dream-19615.html>

 

The people at “What the Flick?” offer their analysis of the ending.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=276jminUMmI>

 

David Kyle Johnson, the author of “Inception and Philosophy: Because It’s Never Just a Dream,” gave a presentation at Google about his book.

From the summary of the video: The book explores the movie's key questions and themes, including how we can tell if we're dreaming or awake, how to make sense of a paradox, and whether or not inception is possible. It also gives new insights into the nature of free will, time, dreams, and the unconscious mind. In addition, it discusses different interpretations of the film, and whether or not philosophy can help shed light on which is the "right one,' and deepens your understanding of the movie's multi-layered plot and dream-infiltrating characters, including Dom Cobb, Arthur, Mal, Ariadne, Eames, Saito, and Yusuf.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ginQNMiRu2w>

 

Kyle Kallgren discusses surrealism and Inception in “Between the Lines: Analysis of Inception.” It mentions the parallels between Inception and many films including “Paprika” and “Twin Peaks.” However, it really gets interesting when he compares it to Dziga Vertov’s “Man With a Movie Camera.” Then he does the “Inception as a metaphor for movie production” comparison. It’s a really interesting analysis.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQQSlwdWd20>

 

 **(ETA: 9/10/15)** David at popupchinese.com wrote a long meta analyzing Inception in the context of religious, philosophical, and spiritual realms. 

<http://popupchinese.com/Inception.pdf>

 

This guy has a series of “The Real Meaning Behind…” various movies. He’s pretty funny in spots, but he likes tearing holes in the movie. (I found this to be another type of “analysis” out there. A lot.)

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=shRszS3YNCk>

 

Fridge Logic also likes tearing holes in it and I generally found the guy to be really annoying. Honestly, though, this whole video falls into the category of “that guy who likes to poke plot holes in everything and ruin everyone’s fun.”

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnqoCvyfoQA>

 

And, on a less biased final note, “Inception in Real Time” is a neat look at how the different dream levels play out side-by-side, time-wise.

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHBlYJ-tKcs>


	8. The Science of Inception

**The Science of Inception**

The film spawned some great articles in the press about the science necessary for an inception.

 

The Science of Implanting False Memories

<http://mentalfloss.com/article/51995/science-implanting-false-memories>

 

The neuroscience of Inception (Wired UK)

<http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2010-07/27/the-neuroscience-of-inception>

 

Here’s an infographic on lucid dreaming.

<http://www.world-of-lucid-dreaming.com/how-to-control-your-dreams-infographic.html>

 

Sibilant found a great article on “How much does an inception cost?” and then follows it up with some questions and thoughts of her own.

<http://www.overthinkingit.com/2010/09/08/how-much-does-inception-cost/>

<http://letangerine.livejournal.com/3703.html#comments>

 

What if Inception were analyzed by dream experts?

<http://www.cinemablend.com/new/What-If-Inception-Were-Analyzed-By-Dream-Experts-19638.html>

 

Some of us in fandom have speculated about the effects of somnacin and how PASIV dreaming works.

<http://inception-meta.livejournal.com/3627.html>

<http://aclutteredmind.dreamwidth.org/309.html>


	9. Real Life vs. Inception

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the LiveJournal TOS Panic of 2017-something, some of the LiveJournal links might be dead as a lot of people moved to dreamwidth. At some point, I'll try and update/find any migrated links, but I haven't done it yet. You can try and search dreamwidth.org using the same usernames and urls and see if you have any luck.

**Real Life vs. Inception**

We have some great resources for writers in the Inception fandom. You might not be an architect, or a pickpocket, or a hitman (er…), but you can read about how to be all of them on the internet.

 

Dream a Little Bigger, Darling - The Inception Fic Writer’s Guide to Firearms

  * Pt 1/4 - <http://chn-breathmint.livejournal.com/482045.html>
  * Pt 2/4 - <http://chn-breathmint.livejournal.com/482260.html>
  * Pt 3/4 - <http://chn-breathmint.livejournal.com/482443.html>
  * Pt 4/4 - <http://chn-breathmint.livejournal.com/482746.html>



 

Architecture and Architects — Johanirae’s Guide to Architecture

<http://johanirae.livejournal.com/365616.html>

 

Or, if you’re more inclined towards writing about Eames on his downtime:

Common Pickpocket Techniques

<http://www.corporatetravelsafety.com/safety-tips/category/pickpockets/tip/common-pickpocket-techniques>

 

There’s the Inception entry in the Internet Movie Firearms Database, which outlines exactly which guns were used in the film:

<http://www.imfdb.org/index.php/Inception>

 

And then there’s this, which I strongly suggest using a private browsing window for, just so it doesn’t stay in your browser history.

Hit Man On-Line: A Technical Manual for Independent Contractors

<http://mirror.die.net/hitman/>

 

Some other resources you might want to use a private browsing window for, in case you start getting interesting things coming up in Google ads …

Weapons Encyclopedia

<http://world.guns.ru/>

 

Havocscope Black Market - Information about global black market threats. Online database collecting public information about economic and security risks from the black market.

<http://www.havocscope.com/>

 

And, on a lighter yet still informative note, Sibilant shares a note on Arthur’s shooting technique and incredible hand strength.

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/123671993463/sibilantly-the-double-tap-a-shooting-technique>


	10. The Characters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since the LiveJournal TOS Panic of 2017-something, some of the LiveJournal links might be dead as a lot of people moved to dreamwidth. At some point, I'll try and update/find any migrated links, but I haven't done it yet. You can try and search dreamwidth.org using the same usernames and urls and see if you have any luck.

**Characterizations in Inception**

Before we get all thinky and deep, I’d like to start with InvoluntaryOrange’s wonderful post on “If the Inception Characters Were Muppets.”

<http://involuntaryorange.tumblr.com/post/111311216730/if-the-characters-in-inception-were-muppets>

 

First off, the concept of characterization as viewed through the dream levels in Inception:

These are hungerandterritory’s (original URL dead) thoughts on Eames, but it’s really about all the characters and their own perceptions, and the other dreamers’ views of them. Who is the real Eames? Is he the one Yusuf dreams? Or Arthur? Or himself? A combination of all of the above? (It gets really meta if you take the opinion that the whole movie is a dream.)

<http://www.crewdlydrawn.com/post/85442865101/perception>

 

* * *

**Arthur**

> “Arthur is the organized one, the one making sure everything is in its right place. The way I see it, Cobb is the artist and Arthur is the producer. He’s the one saying, ‘Okay, you have your vision; now I’m going to figure out how to make all the nuts and bolts work so you can do your thing.’ But as fastidious and professional as he is, Arthur didn’t want to apply his organizational skills to being a lawyer or doctor or anything he could have been because sharing dreams is fascinating. It’s not just a job for him. I think the technology of dream sharing is something that has inspired him since he first heard about it so, ultimately, it’s not the money he’s doing it for. He wouldn’t risk his life for a good paycheck. He loves it.”

(Joseph Gordon-Levitt on Arthur, from the Production Notes)

 

A character study from Insearchtion:

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hQ3huRM9PppCz7smMn6AxZ4LxbtVr8qng_ylWyRhCSQ/edit>

 

Some characterization headcanon about Arthur:

<http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/38563.html?thread=174648483#t174648483>

 

Gyzym’s meta on Arthur and Judaism:

<http://gyzym.dreamwidth.org/42189.html>

 

Why Cameron in _10 Things I Hate About You_ grew up to be Arthur.

<http://eternallycait.livejournal.com/50424.html>

 

And what is a pointman, exactly? Fae-boleyn tackles that:

<http://fae-boleyn.livejournal.com/14015.html>

 

Sibilant did an excellent meta on Arthur’s personality. It’s well worth a read.

Arthur through the lens of Jung’s Caregiver archetype:

<http://letangerine.livejournal.com/4131.html>

She’s also commented on a number of other things.

… the idea that he’s a Pokemon trainer who collects creative people and how this might affect his relationship to Eames:

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/123067149268/reading-your-caregiverarthur-thoughts-and-i-want>

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/123071144163/im-the-anon-from-earlier-and-arthur-actively>

… whether he’s really an asshole or if he’s just a diligent pointman.

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/47607781489/on-arthurs-personality-and-characterisation>

… whether or not he has a military upbringing or background.

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/68837642603/i-just-read-your-post-about-how-arthur-was-the>

… the nature of his relationship with Cobb and Mal.

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/81155841066/tbh-i-think-arthurs-a-better-person-than-me>

 

She isn’t the only person to wonder about Arthur’s personality. Deepsix also wonders if Arthur is really as uptight as fandom thinks or just a controlling asshole? And are he and Eames being flirty or just antagonistic?

<http://deepsix.livejournal.com/1090795.html>

 

**(ETA: 9/8/15)** Anon asked bookshop (mentioned in sibilant’s post about his military upbringing) for fic recs where Arthur is a street kid, poor, and/or self-educated.

<http://bookshop.tumblr.com/post/125654618493>

 

* * *

**Eames**

> "He wanted a little bit of John Hurt. A little bit of Bond-ness. A little bit of the Royal Shakespeare company. A bit of Farley Granger. He gave me a book to read about forgery about the fake masterpieces by the Dutch artist. He used to forge. Colin Firth played him… He gave me very images and ideas to collect to put into this character. He liked what I did in “RocknRolla” and wanted to keep it as close to me as possible in many ways. And he didn’t want to try too hard. He wanted to really create something. But this is who he is. This is what he portrays in the film and how he does. He’s very simple and there wasn’t a great amount of back and forth over it. There didn’t need to be. He was very clear about who it was I was to play. And there’s something very old school, MI-5 about this guy as well. He’s got the Graham Greene “Our Man in Havana” type. Old and faded, slightly shabby, down and out diplomats. A bit unscrupulous and off-the-radar. He’s got the gambling and he’s into the dream stuff. Parts of him you find questionable, but you’ve also got the fighting and the scenes within the dreamscape, which shows a potential military background. He’s a very can-do person with weaponry as well. He a good blend of the British kind of espionage take on what a James Bond type would be. Educated. Also minimal effort, maximum force when it comes to the speedy delivery of violence and death. That’s something we pride ourselves on in the military in Britain."

(Tom Hardy, on what Christopher Nolan wanted to see in Eames, from <http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/67502-tom-hardy-on-inception>)

 

> “In the dream world, Eames can project the image of anyone, so he’s actually forging an identity in a physical manifestation and can convince another person that he’s whomever the team needs him to be in order to aid their deception. What’s especially interesting for me about these characters is the idea of the antihero, the fact that what they are doing could be considered dishonorable, but you still root for them. That’s nice because it’s not just black and white; we have a lot of gray area to play in.”

(Tom Hardy on Eames, from the Production Notes) 

 

> “There is a fun dynamic between Eames and Arthur in the movie. Clearly, they have a rivalry that dates back before our story begins, but they also have a grudging admiration, even if they’d never admit it. They are a pretty funny duo to watch as the heist unfolds.” 

(Emma Thomas on Arthur and Eames’ dynamic, from the Production Notes)

 

Fae-boelyn discusses Eames’ job as a forger:

<http://fae-boleyn.livejournal.com/19934.html>

 

**(ETA: 6/9/16)**   Some more thoughts on how forging works (also linked from the meta chapter), by domlerrys:

<http://domlerrys.tumblr.com/post/143846762962/why-does-fischer-not-recognise-anybody-in-the>

 

**(ETA: 6/9/16)** Some thoughts on Eames' tattoos (and some lovely art) by 7daysofpurrfection and narritar:

<http://7daysofpurrfection.tumblr.com/post/59422615936/a-study-in-eamess-tattoos-special-thanks-to>

 

Sibilant talks about Eames’ fanon transition from dumb!Eames to perfect_boyfriend!Eames. This — and the extensive comment threads — make for some very thinky meta reading on the nature of how we create our characters when we write. Do we pull elements of the actors into the roles? How do the fanon interpretations change? It’s very interesting.

<http://letangerine.livejournal.com/3507.html>

 

Bookshop wrote a picspam meta on Eames being smart. It tackles the fanon!Eames interpretation as well, making the case for smart!Eames. Being a newcomer to the fandom, I hadn’t seen the dumb!Eames much, and I’m guessing posts like this are part of the reason why. The meta is also on AO3, but without the comment threads afterwards.

<http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1065227.html>

 

Here’s an interview with Tom Hardy where he talks about how he played Eames.

<http://www.comingsoon.net/movies/features/67502-tom-hardy-on-inception>

 

Crewdlydrawn brings up the contrast between Arthur and Eames’ physical appearances, pointing out that while Eames is the more stereotypically masculine of the two, he plays around with gender while Arthur ‘exudes far more testosterone than Eames.’

<http://www.crewdlydrawn.com/post/74509407173/mybbjohnblake-i-keep-forgetting-how-incredibly>

 

* * *

**Ariadne**

> “In writing the script for ‘Inception,’ it was very important to me that there be a conduit for the audience – a character who is being shown this world for the first time and is eager to explore it. That’s how the character of Ariadne was born. It was also very important for the audience to see Cobb through Ariadne’s eyes and get to the core of the character. And when I met with Ellen, she had the perfect combination of freshness and savvy and maturity beyond her years. She is an extraordinary performer with incredible creativity and an innate curiosity of her own and, therefore, naturally infused Ariadne with those qualities. Ellen was able to balance the emotional life of her character with the need for Ariadne to bring the audience in and show them the truth.”

(Christopher Nolan on Ariadne and Ellen Page, from the Production Notes) 

 

> “I was excited that Chris had written an awesome role for a young woman who is intelligent and comfortable in her own skin. She is thrust into this completely new environment and unusual situation and deals with it very eloquently. She can very much hold her own, especially in a group that’s a bit of a boys’ club.”

(Ellen Page on Ariadne, from the Production Notes)

 

Xaedificare has some great thoughts on Ariadne.

… her strengths and weaknesses: <http://xaedificare.tumblr.com/post/104894986047/what-are-ariadnes-three-biggest-strengths-and>

… her creative process: <http://xaedificare.tumblr.com/post/106938965662/if-ever-whenever-youd-like-to-id-love-to-read>

… why she’s so much more than ‘just’ an architect: <http://xaedificare.tumblr.com/post/88003279682/to-build-a-dream>

… why she went back to help with dreamshare: <http://xaedificare.tumblr.com/post/118732344277/why-did-ariadne-go-back-to-help-with-dreamshare>

 

Inception-meta speculates on why she went back to dreamshare:

<http://inception-meta.livejournal.com/2812.html>

 

* * *

**Yusuf**

> “An avant-garde pharmacologist, who is a resource for people, like Cobb, who want to do this work unsupervised, unregistered and unapproved of by anyone. Yusuf obviously has a monetary interest in helping Cobb, but he is also motivated by a burning curiosity. He has been experimenting with this stuff for so long and now he wants to see what it’s like.”

(Dileep Rao on Yusuf, from the Production Notes)

 

Sibilant has a great article on tumblr where she talks about why Yusuf is more than “just a chemist.” In a piece of dialogue removed from the film, he talks to Cobb about formulating his own Somnacin compounds. She makes a great case for Yusuf having this as a unique ability among chemists, and not something that chemists in dreamshare run around doing all the time.

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/51860665139/i-really-really-wish-theyd-kept-that-above-piece>

 

* * *

**Saito**

> “We refer to him as ‘the tourist’ because he has no expertise, but uses his financial influence to join the group.”

(Emma Thomas on Saito as ‘The Tourist' from the Production Notes)

 

> “I wrote the part specifically for Ken because I wanted to work with him again. I enjoyed directing him so much on ‘Batman Begins,’ but his role was smaller and we didn’t have a lot of time together. This time I made sure he had a bigger part. Ken is an extremely charismatic performer, a true movie star. He is a consummate actor who knows how to get the most out of every scene. It’s just a pleasure to watch him work.”

(Christopher Nolan on Ken Watanabe, from the Production Notes)

 

There is an extended thread on Saito characterization here:

<http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/38563.html?thread=174367651#t174367651>

 

* * *

**Fischer**

> “Despite his vast wealth, Robert is riddled with all sorts of insecurities, as one might expect of someone who has lives his entire life in the shadow of a hugely powerful individual. It doesn’t help that he has a very strained relationship with his father. So here you have a person who is about to inherit the world and is lacking for nothing except, perhaps, the thing he wants most: a proper relationship with his father.”

(Cillian Murphy on Fischer, from the Production Notes)

 

> “We were so happy to work with Cillian again. He’s a fantastic actor and he brought so much to his role. I think the character of Robert Fischer is especially interesting, because in a heist movie the mark isn’t always so multifaceted. But Robert becomes a very large part of the story’s emotional heart and a great deal of that is found in Cillian’s performance.”

(Emma Thomas on Cillian Murphy, from the Production Notes)

 

A character study from [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=97211#t97211):

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oX7-bW4ogGNY4_F5nBxc6KiwMcwf4Ad2TFCYqytVISg/edit>

 

* * *

**Cobb**

> “It is this highly entertaining, complex thriller where anything can happen, but at the heart is one man’s quest to uncover a long-buried truth and to get back home. […]No matter how surreal the dream state, everything needed to be grounded in our connection with the character; everything had to be emotionally charged. From Cobb’s standpoint there is something very real at stake, so all his choices, his reactions, and how he deals with the people he’s working with is a means to one end: getting back his life.”

(Leonardo DiCaprio on Inception and Cobb, from the Production Notes)

 

There are two threads on Cobb characterization. You can find them here:

<http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/38563.html?thread=173845923#t173845923>

<http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/38563.html?thread=173861283#t173861283>

 

* * *

**Mal**

> “Mal is a tricky one to describe because she is a mix of so many things. But maybe it’s the kind of thing you don’t describe because different people can have different interpretations.”

(Marion Cotillard on Mal, from the Production Notes)

 

> “Marion brought an exceptionally haunting quality to her performance. What she was able to do with just her eyes and her emotional openness is quite beautiful. And she and Leo together portray an incredibly moving couple. Underneath all the action, I think ‘Inception’ is very much founded on a love story, and these two actors found the truth of that in a most remarkable way.”

(Christopher Nolan on Marion Cotillard, from the Production Notes)

 

A character study from [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=97211#t97211):

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1UKAXGXtFXaDjs0u3XuGcs0Er6tTHrJMa4_fMnmvYJhU/edit>

 

Sibilant discusses how Mal, as a projection, is a manifestation of Cobb’s subconscious and defined by his guilt and grief.

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/81115239329/your-meta-knowledge-and-logic-is-amazing-so>

Xeadificare follows up with this comment:

<http://sibilantly.tumblr.com/post/81116077486/and-in-the-cases-of-ariadne-and-arthur-they-are>


	11. The Costumes

**Weapons**

**(ETA: 11/04/15)** You can find everything you want to know about the weapons used in Inception on the Internet Movie Firearms Database (IMFDB). It has all the weapons, screenshots, and commentary on their usage. Highly recommended. 

<http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Inception>

 

* * *

 

**Costumes**

This is the fandom for suit porn. If you love a well-cut suit, or even a disturbing paisley print, Inception has it covered. The fans outdid themselves with meta here, and there are some great articles in the traditional press as well.

 

The costume meta to end all costume metas. This thing is amazing.

<http://bennet-7.dreamwidth.org/103651.html>

 

This is the clothesonfilm interview referenced in the previous costume meta. Jeffrey Kurland was the costume designer for the film.

<http://clothesonfilm.com/inception-jeffrey-kurland-costume-qa/14317/>

 

Here’s another interview with him in Esquire magazine.

<http://www.esquire.com/style/mens-fashion/a8111/inception-suits-072910/>

 

“Dressing Arthur.” Cthonical does a detailed analysis of everything Arthur wears throughout the film, with picspam. Great stuff.

<http://cthonical.livejournal.com/67310.html>

 

“NEWSFLASH: Arthur knows how to wear a suit like nobody's business.” Cherrybina did a nice picspam going through some of his outfits as well.

<http://cherrybina.livejournal.com/154297.html>

 

Eames always gets a bad rap in the fandom for wearing paisley, but he wasn’t the only one wearing it! Furthermore, it’s only worn in the hotel dream level, and Arthur was the dreamer there! If anything, we should wonder what that says about Arthur’s tastes …

<http://eames-arthur.livejournal.com/775517.html>

 

Ever want to know … well, pretty much everything about suits? Check out hackthis’ LiveJournal article. It’s a great read, and also a great resource for Inception writers who want to get their suit porn right!

<http://hackthis.livejournal.com/561614.html>

 

There’s a forum site for watches — what isn’t there a forum for on the internet? — and there’s a thread discussing the various watches in the film.

<http://forums.watchuseek.com/f2/watches-worn-inception-425367.html>

 

This is the watch Arthur wears.

<http://www.chasingriver.com/Other/Inception-arthurswatch.jpg>

 

Earlgreytea68 keeps a tag reserved for “Fashion references for Arthur.”

<http://earlgreytea68.tumblr.com/tagged/fashion+references+for+arthur?og=1>

 

InvoluntaryOrange, in a truly inspired moment, realizes Gonzo provides a good fashion reference for Eames:

<http://involuntaryorange.tumblr.com/post/111385735550/a-tip-for-inception-fic-writers>

 

And there’s some meta on Inception and crossdressing from [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=97723#t97723).

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q3hwgRA3jI_hFcvbXvmQySPA0xiDZgUgUzMlVDlLKGQ/edit>


	12. Where to Start in Fandom

**The Inception Fandom**

There are a couple of good places to get started in the Inception fandom. I’ve broken it down into years 1-4 and then the last year or so.

 

**The Early Fandom**

Crack-van’s Inception (2010) - Overview

Back when the movie came out, Crack-van put together a great primer. It’s mostly LiveJournal based, and as such is now defunct in many places — certainly many of the communities mentioned are long dead or in some cases deleted. However, there’s still some great information here. It gives an overview of the film, the main “rules” for the universe, some thoughts behind some of the pairings, and links to different fandom resources.

It also links to some other brief (and equally old) LiveJournal site round-ups (actors, fic communities, pairings, icons, etc.) I’m not going to link to all the resources here, but they’re worth a look. The LiveJournal pairing comms list is helpful for looking for older fics, especially for the now-less-common pairings, that aren’t on AO3 ([archiveofourown.org](http://archiveofourown.org)). The comms are about halfway down the page. (See also the “Shipping” chapter for hints on finding Rare Pairs fics.)

<http://crack-van.livejournal.com/5309483.html>

 

Bookshop’s Inception resources page from right after the movie came out — an interesting snapshot in time.

<http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1060812.html> 

Ipickquinn’s Inception Newbie Guide - a list of LiveJournal links and comms related to the film, actors, and fandom.

<http://newbieguide.livejournal.com/32703.html>

There was a Inception fandom forum for a while.

<http://uncafe.notquiteroyal.net/>

 

There were a lot of people active early in the fandom. Since I wasn’t there, I’m sort of piecing things together from what other people have said. Most of the good stuff happened in people’s LiveJournals and on the kinkmeme.

People held various memes and comment parties on their journals on different topics. These were basically massive roundups of fic and art on a theme. I’m really sorry I wasn’t around for all this stuff at the time.

I know a lot of you probably expected this document to be all about the stuff buried in these LiveJournal pages, but unfortunately I didn’t have the time or scope to find much of it. If I find more, I’ll update this document.

Here are some links to get you started. Some of these people have migrated to tumblr, some haven’t. I’m trying to stick to people that wrote meta, wrote fic that spawned a lot of meta, or were really active in the memes. Please — no hate on who or what got listed — I wasn’t there. If you have meta, send it to me.

 

Bookshop has been in the fandom since it started, and has had a lot to say about it over the years …

… a piece she wrote in The Daily Dot for the second Inceptiversary.

<http://www.dailydot.com/entertainment/inception-fandom-inceptiversary-christopher-nolan/>

… some meta on the different phases of the Inception fandom as defined by ten different Inception (A/E) fanfics.

<http://bookshop.tumblr.com/post/124357215708>

… a post she wrote which is basically a love letter to the Inception fandom for ‘getting it right’ in so many different ways and interpretations.

<http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1062849.html>

… and a very recent comment on the history of the fandom in general.

<http://bookshop.tumblr.com/post/124429578083>

 

[Weatherfront.livejournal.com](http://Weatherfront.livejournal.com) (fics at [tornadobelt.livejournal.com](http://tornadobelt.livejournal.com)) — Weatherfront filled a lot of prompts on the kinkmeme, and she generated a lot of great meta and discussion.

… here, for example, discussing the concept of building characters in relation to one of her fics

<http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/3434.html?thread=5183082#t5183082>

… and here, where she talks about the meanings behind more of her work:

<http://weatherfront.livejournal.com/2663.html>

 

**Memes**

The Inception fandom spawned a lot of memes — posts on a topic rounding up fic, fanart, and meta into one place. Sometimes these started with a set of work and expanded into the comments, and others (the fluff memes in particular) were of the “Add three sentences in the comments” variety. The important thing here, especially for those of you unfamiliar with LiveJournal, is to read the comments. That’s where you’ll find a lot of the content. Most of them have around 2000 comments. Yep.

 

[cherrybina.livejournal.com](http://cherrybina.livejournal.com) — Apparently a lot of good stuff went down here. Memes, especially. Three that I found:

  * The Arthur/Eames Rimming Meme. (<http://cherrybina.livejournal.com/160956.html?view=comments>)
  * The Inception Kink Fest (<http://cherrybina.livejournal.com/211815.html>)
  * Arthur/Eames Fluff Meme, Round 3: Even More Shamelessly Self-Indulgent (<http://cherrybina.livejournal.com/243220.html>)



You should use her “Audience Participation Required” tag to search for more great stuff. <http://cherrybina.livejournal.com/tag/audience%20participation%20required>

[bookshop.livejournal.com](http://bookshop.livejournal.com) — did two Fluff Memes.

  * The Fluff Trope Fest of Epic Proportions (<http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1073087.html>)
  * Another Fluff Meme of Epic Proportions (<http://bookshop.livejournal.com/1077148.html>)



[jibrailis.livejournal.com](http://jibrailis.livejournal.com/51189.html) — did a catboy!Arthur meme. <http://jibrailis.livejournal.com/51189.html>

[foxxcub.livejournal.com](http://foxxcub.livejournal.com) — did the Kissing Meme. (<http://foxxcub.livejournal.com/692564.html>)

[night-reveals.livejournal.com](http://night-reveals.livejournal.com) — did three different memes

  * Ribaldry & Rage — fighting. (<http://night-reveals.livejournal.com/16550.html>)
  * Fat Cock Vivant — food porn (further down the page). (<http://night-reveals.livejournal.com/16550.html>)
  * Tentacular Spectacular — tentacles and tentacle porn. (<http://night-reveals.livejournal.com/17246.html>)



[bauble.livejournal.com](http://bauble.livejournal.com) — did The Meme Where They Do It. The porn meme. (<http://bauble.livejournal.com/135371.html>)

[airgiodslv.livejournal.com](http://airgiodslv.livejournal.com) — did The Inception Competence Meme, a.k.a. The BAMF Meme. (<http://airgiodslv.livejournal.com/545451.html>)

Finally, and very importantly:

[ohfreckle.livejournal.com](http://ohfreckle.livejournal.com) — did the **Inception Love Meme** (<http://ohfreckle.livejournal.com/203710.html>), where people posted who they adored and why. This is actually an amazing resource for finding out what people did, and who has been in the fandom forever (or what people were doing at the beginning of the fandom). There’s an alphabetical list of everyone, with links to the appropriate part of the thread here: <http://zanzando.dreamwidth.org/152267.html>. A lot of times, people will say, “I love that fic you did about […]” and you can go off and find it. Great stuff. When I get more free time, I’ll be going through this myself to hunt for stuff.

 

**Newer Inception Fandom**

In September of 2014, after posting only two other short fics in the fandom, earlgreytea68 started posting Keep The Car Running (<http://archiveofourown.org/works/2322008>), a 125,000 word epic crossover fic between Inception and BBC Sherlock. It knocked the Sherlock fandom on it’s collective arse, and people started coming over to see what all the fuss was about. They knew a good thing when they saw it, and stayed.

In November, Interstellar hit the movie theaters. It seemed to revive interest in Inception and Chris Nolan’s other films. The arthouse cinema in the city close to me showed Inception. Of course I went. I don’t know if this had any effect on the fandom or not, but seeing it again on the big screen, especially having only been in the fandom for a little while, gave me a boost.

In January, earlgreytea68 (EGT) started Fixer-Upper, an AU where Arthur and Eames star in an HGTV (Home and Garden Television) show named “Love It or List It.” On Valentines Day, she posted the first chapter of Next Big Thing (<http://archiveofourown.org/works/3349583>), the sequel. The fandom, newly-infused with Sherlock converts, exploded.

Next Big Thing (NBT) had Arthur and Eames as celebrity judges on a design show. The format, which had the “public” being able to interact with the show via Twitter and tumblr, spawned a ton of fandom content. People created tumblr accounts related to the fic. Hashtags mentioned in the story appeared on twitter. People made posters and wrote fic about the other cast members on the show.

Comment parties, something that had died out when LiveJournal started it’s slow painful death, came back with a vengeance on AO3. The story currently has over 42,000 comments. People would get together after each chapter and discuss/talk/squee about it, and a new community formed around NBT. The fic ran for 231 chapters, and towards the end she posted a new chapter like clockwork every night. People waited up to read it. It spawned its own sub-reddit (<http://www.reddit.com/r/HGTV_Verse>) which branched out into non-NBT content and acted as another community hub.

As people commented, EGT incorporated their ideas into the fic (with credit). When people went off and created fanworks and twitter hashtags, sometimes those things found their way back into the fic. It was all very meta and fourth-wall-breaking, and a lot of fun.

I think it’s fair to say she singlehandedly pulled a lot of the Sherlock fandom over to Inception and made a lot of people very happy.

 

Knackorcraft, one of the new Sherlock converts, put together an excellent Inception starter kit on tumblr. It has links to general meta, fic recs (by category!), fanvids, and all kinds of good stuff. The fic recs are Arthur/Eames focused, but is a great starting point for anyone new to the movie.

<http://knackorcraft.tumblr.com/inceptionguide>

<http://knackorcraft.tumblr.com/post/97711208296/an-introduction-to-inception>

 

The 2015 Inceptiversary (<http://inceptiversary.tumblr.com>) has been a goldmine of meta. People have been posting all kinds of responses to the Inception 30 Day Challenge — you just have to look. Here’s the link to the challenge, and a query to get back all the posts tagged for the challenge. I don’t know of a better way to scan through the posts, but you could look through Inceptiversary’s tumblr around day 9 for movie ending meta.

<http://inceptiversary.tumblr.com/post/122970471257/inception-30-day-challenge>

<http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/inception-30-day-challenge>

**(ETA: 7/22/17)** The tumblr group @inceptiversarysocial (<http://inceptiversarysocial.tumblr.com>) was started in order to coordinate the watch parties. These have developed into a weekly event, being held Friday night on a US-friendly time zone and Saturday day on a Europe-friendly time. Polls are held to determine the movies shown. 

There is a Slack group (chatroom), hosting the watch parties, along with general discussion and writing/art support. Contact the inceptiversarysocial tumblr account for an invitation.


	13. Fandom Resources

**Fandom festivals**

The fandom still actively celebrates **Inceptiversary** (July 16th). Various events are held throughout the month of July. 

<http://inceptiversary.tumblr.com> and <http://inceptiversary.livejournal.com>

 

In May, there’s the **Arthur/Ariadne Appreciation Fest**

<http://still-worth-a-shot.tumblr.com/About%20Ariadne/Arthur%20Appreciation%20Fest>

 

In addition, every year there’s an **Inception Reverse Bang** , where artists create fanart and fic writers create stories to go along with it. This happens from June - October.

<http://i-reversebang.livejournal.com>

 

 **Inception Bang** (where the fic inspires the art) seems to be defunct, but there’s still stuff there to read.

<http://inception-bang.livejournal.com/>

 

The **A/E Last Drabble Writer Standing** is a short fiction contest that starts around Inceptiversary.

<http://aelastwriter.tumblr.com/>

 

* * *

**Fic**

The new fic is mostly happening on [archiveofourown.org](http://archiveofourown.org) (where you are most likely reading this meta). If you don’t have an invitation, you can request one. This lets you subscribe to authors and save bookmarks, but it’s not a requirement for using the site. There are a few people still posting to their LiveJournal accounts, but I’m not sure anyone is using it exclusively for fic.

If you like to track things via tumblr, there is a blog set up to post an entry for every new work posted in the Inception fandom.

<http://ao3feed-inception.tumblr.com/>

There are some ficlets that are posted only to tumblr, and those are sadly impossible to track.

 

* * *

**(ETA: 11/22/15)**

**Tumblr**

<http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com> maintains a master post for Inception blogs.

You should check out the latest version here: <http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/post/133775188883/masterlist-inception-blogs>, but here is a version from 11/22/15.

_====_

If you are interested in Arthur and Eames roleplayers then [click onto this list](http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/arthurandeamesroleplayblogs).

Some of the blogs below have long been inactive, and some are only active seasonally, but all the blogs have fandom gems tucked away in the archive! So happy browsing :)

**must-follow:**

_[@inceptiversary](http://tmblr.co/mHFJS7m8BPeVpf9SsNc66iA)_  

**general:**

_[@inceptionquestions](http://tmblr.co/mQMXc4cKBd2oM8adq-njkJg) _

_[@inception-fans](http://tmblr.co/mn1Xwjn3-KDikWaTEH61BUw) _

_[@fyeahinceptionmen](http://tmblr.co/mgBvA2i8FDWzp3j7vDyOwvA) _

_[@inceptionmovie](http://tmblr.co/m_3F_Dmbu_BIGQQjaVPGS0A) _

_[@doyouknowwhatitistobealover](http://tmblr.co/mYB8L60Cvh2qNh-bOfmROlw)_  

**fic:**

_[@ao3feed-inception](http://tmblr.co/myRw7YnDxkHlUxKD2H9oe1Q) _

_[@ao3feed-arthurinception](http://tmblr.co/mx1EBFABd8KZGMY-LGZ_v3w) _

_[@darlingrecs](http://tmblr.co/m5wNg5_dk7D_si3IWhFhYMg) _

_[@darlingfics](http://tmblr.co/md-d-zSG9JAi3M413KAvefw) _

_[@dreamin-reader](http://tmblr.co/mxXStgwP6oTCbnh6Ds_x9Og) _

**writing games:**

_[@aeholidaybang](http://tmblr.co/mBw77a6brMuRFDFo_24Q3oQ)_  

_[@aelastwriter](http://tmblr.co/mWCx-1h-aKcSU3C7tlKJhtQ) _

_[@i-reversebang](http://tmblr.co/mfuKVm7qD_BKw098pQrVSiQ)_  

**ships:**

_[@arthurandeames](http://tmblr.co/m3YGXJ4XAIBKgVPSSnnZ8BA) _

_[@arthureamesdaily](http://tmblr.co/m2bPyYrxCzhBdujIwTbst5w) _

_[@arthurandeamesgifsets](http://tmblr.co/mrWfg9UXeqbBQUh9WN0DOAg) _

_[@arthurandeamesstuff](http://tmblr.co/mMq_SEVGkUT0msaR09x8cww) _

_[@arthurandeamespornstars](http://arthurandeamespornstars.tumblr.com/)_  

_[@arthurxeames](http://tmblr.co/mETRuGWVox74_edR5u9vsLw) _

_[@fuckyeaharthurandeames](http://tmblr.co/mw1BgAArgy3xqlpIccfLFNA)_  

 _[@forever-arthur-ariadne](http://tmblr.co/mtMgcWy5ZJbdAcrbZMglrqw)_  

 _[@fuckyeahinceptionships-blog](http://tmblr.co/m99AiwyOJFIQJ-j94rgv-Eg)_  

**memes:**

_[@asofterinception](http://tmblr.co/mV5_Rsd3WuXX5AmcU95s0QA) _

_[@angryarthur-blog](http://tmblr.co/m9OfTh8FGtnl9PaC-8aZVZQ) _

_[@inceptionmemes-blog](http://tmblr.co/mAv0ZEzEquMCPxlJKw-TYAw)_  

 _[@textsfromadream-blog](http://tmblr.co/mhH0e8qKv_pe8cp-oatzhtA)_  

**social:**

_[@inceptiversarysocial](http://tmblr.co/mIDjO1bbPKmawwvTSNY28ag) _

_[@inceptionkitties](http://tmblr.co/mmz7Uegzb_xs3qkFNthu-jg) _

_[@arthureamesgiftexchange](http://tmblr.co/mpDD8yQB_zt4y9fqLSEVRVA)_  

 _[@teamdreamhusbands](http://tmblr.co/mr5eNHR3_CYNFswlpEVl45w)_  

 _[@tarotception](http://tmblr.co/mmycpnB9CuSDW9IPro6UPyg)_  

**interactive:**

_[@askeamesandarthur](http://tmblr.co/mYTA-Z4DhBo7d1WAmO2T_MQ) _

_[@notes-from-arthur-and-eames](http://tmblr.co/mz09dt9DMCqAZplENlDi8hw) _

_[@notesfromarthurandeames](http://tmblr.co/m-5X9Cdl7inqDVlWd9X3vgg) _

_[@inceptionheadcanons](http://tmblr.co/m4_6C54AyRQlu1uj9btJyvg)_  

 _[@inception-confessions](http://tmblr.co/mcdrGZyjWjpNxSdfG7As4vQ)_  

If there is a blog missing, please bring it to <http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com>'s attention. Any additions will be made via reblogs, so check the [post](http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/post/133775188883/masterlist-inception-blogs) for updates. 

**====**

* * *

**Meta compilation sites**

Bookshop has a pinboard account with a ton of great meta links. You can find that at <https://pinboard.in/u:bookshop/t:inception:meta/>. Her general (not meta-specific) Inception pinboard is <https://pinboard.in/u:bookshop/t:inception>.

Lezzerlee's pinboard account has some real meta gems. <https://pinboard.in/u:creativename/t:meta:inception/>

The inception-meta LiveJournal community produced some interesting posts and comment strings. <http://inception-meta.livejournal.com>

 

* * *

 **Insearchtion**  

In 2012, Insearchtion happened. It was a big Inception scavenger hunt played with teams. I wasn’t there, but the evidence still remains on LiveJournal. C’mon. You know you want to find out what Yusuf would write in his journal and see a screenshot of Cobb’s online dating profile!

<http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html>

Yep. That’s the link. That one right there. Click on it. It’s really good. I've pulled out some of the meta stuff though, and you’ll find bits of it scattered throughout the rest of the document.

 

* * *

**Nolanfans.com**

[Nolanfans.com](http://Nolanfans.com) is the home of all things Christopher Nolan. It hosts online forums for all of his movies and upcoming projects. The Inception forum is at <http://www.nolanfans.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=26>.

Harder to find is the Search page, which is here: <http://www.nolanfans.com/forums/search.php>. If you scroll down, you can limit the search to the Inception forum. There is all kinds of good stuff on this site, and it takes ages to wade through it. Have fun.


	14. Meta Posts in Fandom

**Meta posts**

The Mechanics of Dreamshare

Just go and check this out. There are some great underlying principles of dreamshare here, fundamental rules and concepts you can sink your teeth into.

<http://inception-meta.livejournal.com/5094.html>

 

Worldbuilding Hows and Whys and Whats

This is a writing technique, using Inception as an example, for how to build headcanon and character backstory.

<http://inception-meta.livejournal.com/4706.html>

 

ETA 6/9/16

Domlerrys wrote a fabulous meta on how forging works, and why Fischer doesn't recognize anyone in the dream. 

<http://domlerrys.tumblr.com/post/143846762962/why-does-fischer-not-recognise-anybody-in-the>

 

Onthecount wrote an amazing meta covering all sorts of things.

  * Arthur and Eames’ skill-sets and how they affect their thought processes
  * The sort of jobs they usually work and how they differ
  * How does one logistically become ‘the dreamer’ with the PASIV? Can there be more than one controlling dreamer? Could Eames control multiple forgeries?
  * Dreamsharing roles and the requirements for each one.
  * Dreaming as a learning tool
  * And then there’s a really extended and interesting discussion about needing to learn the “language” of dreams and be fluent in it in order to succeed on a dreamshare team.



And then there are lots of responses.

<http://onthecount.livejournal.com/31638.html>

 

This meta is all about the opportunities for dreamshare jobs. Who owns the technology? Who can afford the services? What sort of jobs will they accept and why? The responses include how academia and pharmacology got involved with the military-developed technology. Great stuff.

<http://onthecount.livejournal.com/30868.html>

 

That meta segues nicely into a post about Licensed Dreamshare Practicioners (LDPs) and the types of licensing available for the technology - a whole slew of dreamscape professions and trades.

<http://mithrigil.livejournal.com/502219.html>

 

In a different vein, some thoughts on how much it cost Saito to buy the airline, and why it might _not_ actually be neater:

<http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/post/125059033343/marourin-ko-no-yo-peruses-johanirae>

 

A Very Meta Fic

I know this isn’t a fic rec list, but no meta document would be complete without this fic: _Singularity_ , by pushdragon, manages to include forty-one (I think) references to other fics as hyperlinks within the fic. It’s very meta in that sense!

<http://archiveofourown.org/works/1190577>

 

* * *

**Meta Posts (not quite so serious)**

InvoluntaryOrange’s did a wonderful post on “If the Inception Characters Were Muppets.” (Yes, I know this is in the Costume chapter as well. You might have missed it there. You never know.)

<http://involuntaryorange.tumblr.com/post/111311216730/if-the-characters-in-inception-were-muppets>

 

From [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=95419#t95419): Find special dildos/vibrators/pumps for 3 characters. Along with pictures, justify your choices in 100 - 200 words, be it in an essay or a fic. (NSFW!)

  * Arthur, Ariadne, Eames: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1HfN13bH0QnX6UY7lGmbIsnGyi0jjbqHjxxj8WTEUE24/edit>
  * Arthur, Ariadne, Cobb: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LFULDG8cJvPhi-W2f9ks5zS__wFFXAKGdKEaroHFcBg/edit>
  * Dom & Mal, Eames, Ariadne: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vDLBW2IWeX-X9V2vhaO23-gs3R_jDfVWrwbz3mFBraI/edit>
  * Eames, Arthur, Ariadne: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A4KR5OsiYtntD8LLeEEAcagiNlQvu3d0sNoRmjVVjqs/edit>
  * Arthur, Ariadne, Eames: <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1RuR9SaYJupI2Kp-nlMYcBNv0C2phOUahSP7rjosudw8/edit>



 

There was, er, a poll. On theoretical cock size. Purely for research. 

<http://platina.livejournal.com/46613.html>

  
Onthecount’s summary post of _The Big Under_ (<http://onthecount.livejournal.com/23119.html>) had some really amusing closing thoughts. I’m recording them here in case you missed them.

_THINGS THIS_ _BRINGS TO LIGHT:_

  * _yes, arthur is just like that._
  * _it's not nash's fault that he screws up the carpet, but he's over-confident and kind of a moron anyway._
  * _Cobb is scary_
  * _DREAMCADES. WITH ACTUAL GAMES._
  * _AND SAITO PLAYS THEM REGULARLY_
  * _JUST BUY AN XBOX, SAITO_
  * _Saito is a badass_
  * _Arthur is usually right._
  * _SO MANY OTHER THINGS._



You should really check out _The Cobol Job_ and _The Big Under_ in their various forms. You can find the links in chapter two. They give some really great insights into the film (and it took me forever to track all that stuff down).

 

Inception Cocktails — and they sound really, really good.

<http://mithrigil.livejournal.com/497335.html>

 

Check out “Such Great Heist” on YouTube. They wrote and performed their own song for Insearchtion!

<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PbXjYoiCMQg>

 

* * *

**AU Meta**

Inception has a lot of Alternate Universe (AU) fics. What about the fandom makes them so prevalent? [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=101563#t101563) tackled this question.

  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JlEt1y3z95Jo_E9ODY2RkWrlS7fScXPGpaSYyrF6ZLo/edit>
  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/17wtTsHPW5ozKdhZHXY2EuetItsyvY6u8klnL_m1RpAg/edit>
  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Wag1cwGEZW8tltSQxhakwE4Ng9-DKnMQ5-k5TM-XoD0/edit>
  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1QfFvNYRMQDXBXijR6YDKedRR2E55h8y2fxsr0yNOAZE/edit>
  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zTo58C-j7lNUYEYjjwn3M7ThIa1XlPCPBwXX72KQpts/edit> 



 

* * *

 

**Mpreg Meta**

The insearchtion site ([insearchtion.livejournal.com](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com)) had a contest to come up with mpreg meta. This, my friends, is a _lot_ of meta.

Submissions 1-3. <http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/3952.html>

Submissions 4-6. <http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/4248.html>


	15. Shipping

**Shipping**

I was going to make this meta shipping-free. I know there’s been a lot of divisiveness in this fandom in the past between the Arthur/Eames shippers and people who ship other pairings. I wanted to stay out of that.

That said, there was some interesting meta out there that I stumbled across and I’m going to include it here. Some of it is Arthur/Eames-centric. Other things are for smaller ships. Not every ship is covered — not remotely. Please don’t be offended if I don’t list yours. This meta project completely got the better of me in terms of scope and I’ll never be able to do this topic justice. Send me your (non-inflammatory) ship manifesto or meta and I’ll gladly add it.

If you don’t want to get into the shipping side of things, feel free to skip this chapter.

 

**Finding Rare Pairs**

This document is not a rare pair roundup, and I understand there’s supposed to be a meta coming out on how to “do basic fandom stuff,” but I thought I’d include some rare pair starter links and tips here.

Finding content other than Arthur/Eames was easier when the LiveJournal comms were active because you could just go to the appropriate pairing comm. (See the list on <http://crack-van.livejournal.com/5309483.html>) Now that there’s not as much being written, and a lot of the older fic hasn’t been migrated to AO3, you have to rely on older fic rec lists and tags on AO3.

Some rare pair fic rec lists:

  * <http://kirstenlouise.livejournal.com/105751.html>
  * <http://forgerness.livejournal.com/48558.html>
  * <http://inception.dreamwidth.org/31022.html?format=light>
  * <http://velificantes.tumblr.com/post/124958033150/rare-pairs-recs>



[Inceptiversary](http://inceptiversary.tumblr.com) has a Rare Pairs Week. You can check their blog directly for anything they reblogged: (<http://inceptiversary.tumblr.com/tagged/rarepairs>).

You can also search on various tags on tumblr and see what they turn up. For example, for Eames/Saito, you might try the following seaches:

  * <http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/eames-x-saito>
  * <http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/eamesxsaito>
  * <http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/saitoxeames>



In this case, the first one turned up results, but the last two didn’t. It all depends on what people tag their posts with. It seems using a space between the names (which tumblr uses a ‘-’ for) is more common.

 

**Arthur/Ariadne**

While much of the newer work being produced is Arthur/Eames these days, there is still an active Arthur/Ariadne presence. You can check out “still-worth-a-shot” on tumblr, who hosts the **_Arthur/Ariadne Appreciation Fest_**.

<http://still-worth-a-shot.tumblr.com>

<http://still-worth-a-shot.tumblr.com/About%20Ariadne/Arthur%20Appreciation%20Fest>

AO3 mini-fest collection works from AA Fest / Still Worth a Shot: <http://archiveofourown.org/collections/Still_Worth_A_Shot>

Fanlore entry: <http://fanlore.org/wiki/Ariadne/Arthur>

Livejournal: <http://community.livejournal.com/arthur-ariadne>

Another tumblr (inactive): <http://fuckyeaharthurandariadne.tumblr.com/>

Arthur/Ariadne fic rec list: <http://anachronistique.tumblr.com/post/124962663468/a-really-quite-ridiculously-long-arthurariadne>

 

**Eames/Fischer**

Croik has a fabulous ship manifesto, filled with great picspam: “Why I Adore Eames/Fischer”

<https://croik.dreamwidth.org/112675.html>

Tumblr: <http://fuckyeah-eames-robert.tumblr.com/>

 

**Arthur/Cobb**

From the Characterization thread on fail-fandomanon, I found this ship manifesto on Arthur/Cobb.

<http://fail-fandomanon.livejournal.com/38563.html?thread=174014115#t174014115>

 

**(ETA 9/8/15) Cobb/Saito**

Transarthur does a fantastic ship manifesto for them. I haven’t seen this case made elsewhere, and I’m surprised. 

<http://transarthur.tumblr.com/post/120623200893/cobbsaito-is-basically-canon-an-analysis>

 

There was some truly inspired (and some surreal) meta done for [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=94395#t94395) surrounding rare pairs. Since they’re all in the same documents, I’ll list them in groups here.

**Arthur/Ariadne/Eames**

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vTN71cGpcyyiEKgAaw2YD96MF5OVVZ-S7_XvP_O4P7s/edit>

 

**Eames/Saito**

**Saito/Carpet**

**Arthur/Salad**

**Ariadne/Scarves**

**Explodey Things/Arthur/Eames/Saito**

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/19GZ_DUCjRL_I-EtcRjaM9sh-kAtKmlfClNwggXuNXr4/edit>

 

**Ariadne/Eames**

<https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-PpLwptnp-g9h6acRR38bfFLXDba_dX3P73QMkIdILs/edit>

 

* * *

**Arthur/Eames and A/E-centric meta**

 

The [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=94139#t94139) metas on Arthur/Eames shipping.

  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ssIEA4WKr0cJHBxjB0iwhre7Ah9ZnTUkTD4NHk6gWAA/edit>
  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M_Z0bchoShnDGtL2oY3RZqJ5L4Kv8IrFisWNDGI2JK8/edit>



 

The [Insearchtion](http://insearchtion.livejournal.com/5819.html?thread=101307#t101307) “Mmm, Arthur” moment metas. What exactly did Eames’ reaction to Cobb signify?

  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dDhQcVL-Qt4vVa8bMWMXXKHBCWm21sOy4C-ySBiqvgU/edit>
  * <https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JtO6aQkxZKmxUOmAz3bmoa4dC_p3zriJCyMutdDQYSo/edit>



 

The Arthur/Eames Survival Guide is a picspam guide to Inception. It has screencaps from all the great A/E moments.

  * <http://godofwine.livejournal.com/92171.html>
  * <http://godofwine.livejournal.com/92521.html#cutid1>



 

Ship-manifesto’s Arthur/Eames page:

<http://ship-manifesto.livejournal.com/273634.html> (A/E)

**(ETA 9/9/15)** Mirrored here on dreamwidth: 

<http://ship-manifesto.dreamwidth.org/251402.html>

 

Fanmix shipping meta. I didn’t even know this was a thing.

Arthur/Eames and Florence + the Machine

<http://electricitys.livejournal.com/4422.html>

 

Fandom, theorizing on how the “Go to sleep, Mr. Eames” moment came about between Tom Hardy and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

<http://a-forger-and-a-point-man.tumblr.com/post/119162332963/go-to-sleep-mr-eames>

 

**(ETA 9/8/15)** Bookshop's post on where the ship would be without be without that "Darling," and some of the fic it spawned.

<http://chasingriversong.tumblr.com/post/126849006112/imagine-our-fandom-without-the-word-darling>

 

The “Eames sapiosexuality” thread on the kinkmeme. (This is related to bookshop’s “Eames is smart” meta, mentioned in the Characters chapter. It has some wonderful discussion and fills, including what would turn out to be weatherfront’s [Das Vorbewusste](http://tornadobelt.livejournal.com/1591.html).

<http://inception-kink.livejournal.com/5987.html?thread=9101155#t9101155>

 

Arthur and Eames’ interactions during the “thank you for your contribution” scene.

<http://bookshop.tumblr.com/post/58179397708>

 

A tumblr (sometimes nsfw) with visual cues of things that could be Arthur/Eames shipping inspired.

<http://arthurandeamesstuff.tumblr.com/>

 

The Eames/Arthur livejournal community - no longer very active but still going.

<http://eames-arthur.livejournal.com/>


	16. Some Final Notes

This is the project that never ends — I keep finding more things. 

I’m simultaneously really proud of what I got done and disappointed that I didn’t end up with more, but real life impinged on fandom life, and things always take longer than you imagine they will. 

I’ll try and keep updating it as a work-in-progress. I’m always open to adding new content. Feel free to submit links to my tumblr (<http://chasingriversong.tumblr.com/submit>) or send me an ask. 

If you find the document helpful or interesting, let me know. I’m honestly curious. I learned a lot by putting it together (as someone new to the fandom), but I imagine a lot of this is old news for people who’ve been here since the beginning. I hope there are at least a couple new things in there for everyone. 

Thanks for reading. 


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